WITCH VS The Hulk
by XV-Dragon
Summary: The guardians are getting ready for a relaxing weekned, when the Hulk is brought to Meridian by nobles who are not happy with Elyon's way of ruling. Can WITCH stop the Hulk in time or is elyon and Meridian doomed?


AN: Finally back to writing again after being in a slump for the last few months. I'll be working 'Trials of a Mother Guardian' next and then 'Shunned One'. Once those are done, my 'Naruto: W.I.T.C.H. Style' and 'Team W.I.T.C.H.' fics might be next.

I hope you guys enjoy my comeback one-shot with 'W.I.T.C.H. Vs the Hulk.'

Disclaimer: Do not own 'W.I.T.C.H.' or 'The Incredible Hulk'

000

'W.I.T.C.H. vs. the Hulk'

A school bell rang, signalling to the students at Sheffield that another day of classes/torture and the start of another weekend. The students poured out of the building, all wanting to get home to either relax or get ready to go out and celebrate their freedom.

For five girls, just exiting the school at this very moment, it was even more welcome then most teenagers, since each of these girls shared a secret: they each had magic and control of an elemental force of nature, which they used to keep the peace throughout the universe as Guardians of the Infinite Dimensions.

The first of these girls was Will Vandom, the redheaded and tomboyish leader of the group. She had control of the element of quintessence, which was pretty much the power to bring things alive with bio-electricity. She was also the Keeper of the Heart of Candracar, the source of the Guardians' powers.

Next was Irma Lair, the comedian and second tomboy of the group. Her powers were the abilities to control water and partial mind control. Irma tended to make 'good' use of the second power whenever she got the chance.

The third member of the team was Taranee Cook, the brains of the group. She also controlled the power of fire, which, combined with her secondary power of telepathy, gave her a good balance of power and support when you took her powers and intelligence into consideration.

The fourth girl was Cornelia Hale, one of the powerhouses of the group thanks to her element of earth and secondary power of telekinesis. Since she tended to be the more serious member of the group, she often clashed with Irma, but they were still very good friends.

The last member of the group was Hay Lin, the hyperactive Air Guardian. She also the spy/scout of the group thanks to her ability hear things far away and power to go invisible.

Together they made W.I.T.C.H., and ever since they were thirteen-fourteen years old, they had been fighting evil, but at long last no new crisis have popped up since they beat Nerissa, a former Guardian, three months ago.

Even though it had been so long since they defeated Nerissa, the five girls could not quite relax since they had both been still recovering mentally from the final battle and kept thinking a new evil would pop up at any moment. But with three months passing, they all agreed to officially celebrate their victory and the return of a normal life…or as normal as theirs got anyway.

"So what should we do? See a movie? Have a sleepover? Or just throw party in the restaurant's basement?" Hay Lin babbled, while the other girls thought the ideas over.

"Why don't we wait until after practise to decide? That way we can choose once we get the last 'class' for the day out of the way," Will suggested, getting a group from the four other girls.

"Will…do you honestly think we need MORE practise? We beat everybody the universe has to offer. Why don't we just take a break?" Cornelia suggested for the group, all hoping their redheaded leader would agree.

Will felt torn between her responsibilities as leader and the pleading looks of her friends for a short vacation from anything to do with magic, but eventually caved into the pressure of the others and her own desire to be a normal teenager for a while.

"Alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt to call off practise today…so what do we do then?" Will asked, while the other tried containing their joy and avoiding making a scene in the middle of the school grounds, not knowing they were going to wish they had that practise, since one of the greatest foes they could ever face would be against them very soon.

000

On Meridian, the first world ever to be saved by the Guardians, several men in fine robes sat around a table to discuss and important matter that concerned them all. What to do about their 'Queen Elyon.'

They were a group that was semi-loyal to Phobos when he ruled Meridian, but only so they could hold onto their own power. Once he was defeated, they followed the new queen for the same reason, but Elyon's idealistic ways now threatened their positions.

The young queen was trying to mix in elective positions into the government, positions that gave the common people equal say in matters that the nobles normally had full control in. That was simply unacceptable in these men's eyes.

"We must stop the girl before she ruins things further! Being raised on Earth has clearly made the queen unfit to rule, since she has clearly been tainted by its ideas on how things are done!" One of the nobles growled, voicing the thoughts the other shared.

"That may be true, but how do we stop her? Even Phobos, with his much weaker magic, would have been impossible for us to challenge. How can we stand chance against the very source of our world's mystic power?" A second noble asked, knowing that the Heart of a world was normally only able to be matched by another world's Heart, something they were not likely to acquire.

As the group kept arguing over plan what must be done and how it should be achieved, the oldest of the group watched and waited patiently for his chance to speak. He believed he had a plan that would guarantee their success and possibly even seize the power of Meridian once Queen Elyon was gone.

Once the rest of his accomplices started to go silent as they ran out of their own ideas, the old noble spoke up, "My friends, there is a possible way for us to rid ourselves of the girl and even the Guardians, should they come to the queen's aid. This plan also allows us to remain out of sight, thus not be suspected of any sort of treason until we are ready to seize permanent control of Meridian."

These words made the gathered nobles look to their oldest member, wondering what he had in mind that could achieve both of those things. Once the old man was sure the others would be silent, he explained his plan.

"For several years, even when Phobos' rein was strong, I did some…research, into a few things I discovered about Earth. Mainly into about beings called 'superheroes,' just in case we might need a trump card against Phobos, once he had Queen Elyon's powers. It took a few of the less known shapeshifters to discover an ideal choice," the old noble explained, while taking out an Earth newspaper and throwing it on the table the group sat around.

They saw the front page had a picture of a large and powerfully built green creature on it, lifting up a large Earth machine overhead that should have been too heavy for it, yet it looked no lighter than a feather to this creature.

"What is this creature, and how can it help us? It obviously is physically powerful, but so was Cedric, and look what happened to him?" The first noble asked, hoping the deeper details of the plan would make things clear.

The older noble chuckled, as if laughing at an inside joke, then explained why he thought this creature could help them.

"The green monster in the picture is called the Hulk, a beast fuelled by pure rage. The more anger it has, the more powerful it becomes. Cedric would be swatted aside like a common fly by this creature's power. Also, this creature has survived assaults from weapons that would have killed Cedric in an instant. Even other beings of great power have either been crushed or barely won against it, and I doubt Queen Elyon would be one such person with her lack of experience with her powers," the old noble explained, getting mixed reactions for his companions.

"If this 'Hulk' is as powerful as you suggest, then how do you plan on getting it to help us? Also, if it does kill the queen, either Phobos will gain the power of Meridian by being the only living member of the royal line left on Meridian, or it will be lost forever. Neither option is ideal for us," One of the other nobles asked, thinking such a powerful creature would not easily be convinced to do their dirty work.

"The Hulk is a creature of great power, but limited intelligence. All we must do is provoke it in such a way that it is furious here on Meridian and thinks the ones attacking it are from the castle. It will then destroy anything in its path, and the queen, being as 'noble' as she is, will mostly confront the creature directly upon hearing of its attack. There is little doubt the Hulk will win, and when it does, we will be ready to make the power of Meridian transfer to us," the old noble explained, seeming to win the bulk of the group over with the idea, but some still semi-hesitant to commit to the idea for some reason.

After a moment of silence, one asked, "How would be able to seize Meridian's power when the creature wins? More importantly, how do we stop it where the Heart of Meridian could not?"

This seemed to make the support for the idea wane, but its creator simply replied, "There are several rituals we can use to make the power come to us upon the queen's death; we just need to have it ready before she does get crushed under the monster's heel. As for stopping the beast, it will stop itself. Once no one remains to challenge it, it will calm down and return to its much weaker form. Once that happens, it is easily dealt with."

"A weaker form…you mean it's a shapeshifter like Cedric or Miranda?"

"Not the exact same way, but you will see when we use the Hulk to rid ourselves of this queen once and for all."

000

Back on Earth, Professor Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, was running through a forest, trying to escape the strange creatures that were perusing him. They had not attacked him directly, but they did make it clear they were after him.

What confused the former scientist was why. They clearly had be to some new military experiment, since they seemed to change from human to monster at will, an ability he would love to look into so to solve his 'condition,' but unlike past military pursuers they were not as aggressive in their mission.

'They are trying to make me go somewhere without making me become the Hulk. Why? The government either wants me dead or to be used as a weapon, so they don't risk herding me since they fear I might get angry or stressed. They just try to hit me as quickly as possible and hope 'it' doesn't come out,' Bruce thought, while he looked back to see if he lost three chasing him.

To his disappointment, they were still close enough behind him to make Bruce keep up a fast pace. Each one was cross between a human an animal. One was a panther-like humanoid, the second a vulture, and the last a fox.

The vulture had to travel by foot at the moment because of the dense trees, but Bruce knew full well it could fly very easily. This made it key he stayed under heavy cover as much as possible, so to keep it out of the air and only have to deal with the fox- and panther-like creatures.

It was those two that were what probably kept the trio so close to for long. They probably had a good sense of smell, so they probably could afford to be as far back as they were without losing their prey.

Bruce knew that despite his intelligence, he knew little of the outdoors to hide his tracks or scent enough to throw those creatures off and had to hope for a miracle to escape, without needing to use the Hulk's power.

Unfortunately for the desperate man, his miracle would not come as he stumbled out of the bushes and into a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a strange blue 'rip' of some kind, as well as several men in armour and wielding spears and shields.

Before Bruce could turn around to run, the three creatures entered the clearing as well, trapping the former scientist in a circle of enemies.

Before Bruce Banner could even consider a possible escape plan, one of the men in armour called out, "Bruce Banner, by the order of the Queen of Meridian, you are to come with us at once! Should you refuse to comply, we are ordered to close the fold you see before you and then to anger you in any way possible. The queen said once that happened, the town over yonder would most likely be destroyed by your own wrath!"

With those words, the guard pointed to the nearby town; it was still a bit of ways off, but Bruce knew if they unleashed the Hulk, it would be there in less than a minute and smash everything in sight, once it dealt with all these people.

"I don't even know what you're talking about or what this Queen of yours could want with me. Just let me go and we can all…" Bruce started to say, when the panther creature grabbed him and threw him through the fold.

"MOVE!" the panther ordered the soldiers, since, unlike the soldiers, he and the other two shapeshifters knew of the Hulk. They knew it was critical to get the men back to Meridian have the fold closed before Banner changed into the monster that could crush them all.

The soldiers quickly complied and got through the fold so to follow the orders of their lords, not knowing the horror they had just unleashed on their world.

000

On the other side of the fold, Bruce skidded across the ground from the sheer amount of strength the panther shapeshifter used when throwing him into the strange tear in space the strange people called a 'fold.'

By the time he came to a stop, Bruce was fighting to keep any anger he felt suppressed, so to avoid unleashing the monster inside him. Unfortunately for Bruce, his captors were not going to allow him to suppress the Hulk's power.

As the last of the men passed through, the fold was sealed up with a small pendent, one of the few talismans that could create folds on Meridian. Many had been lost when Phobos rose to power, destroyed in hopes of the evil prince from using them to invade other worlds, but one of the lords, a part of the plot to take over Meridian, held onto one, just in case.

Once the fold was gone, the men carried out the next part of their orders -- to get the man angry in any way possible.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and thrust his spear towards Bruce Banner's shoulder, hoping to provoke the man into doing whatever his lord had in mind for the person, but Bruce rolled out of the way in time.

"Stop! None of you know what you're doing! If this continues, you're all in terrible danger!" Bruce cried out, hoping to prevent these people from putting any more stress on him. Bruce knew his adrenaline must be rising fast, given the situation, and all it would take is one good push to bring out the monster within him.

"We know exactly what we are doing, human -- we are doing what Queen Elyon has ordered us to do," the soldier replied coldly, while the other men picked up stones and threw them at the desperate man.

This was what finally caused the dam to break on Bruce Banner's control. The barrage of stones caused pain and anger to fill his very being and trigger the transform into the most terrifying force known to man.

Bruce started to get bigger and shredding his clothes in the process. His skin turned green, his hair become black, and he grew to ten feet in height with a powerful build to back it up. He had become the Hulk, and would be the cause of much death and destruction this day. Not that these men knew that just yet, but they would realize their mistake in a matter of moments.

000

A half-hour later, in the palace of Queen Elyon, the young monarch was wrapping up the last of her queenly business for the day. After hours of listening to complaints and signing documents, she just wanted to kick back and be a 14-year-old girl for a while. Assuming nothing else happened, that is.

Of course, with creatures like Sandpit and Gargoyle now on her side, the royal guard never really alerted her of a crisis until long after it was dealt with by said creatures. It made Elyon feel a bit left out of the action, but she knew the whole point of having powerful allies was so the ruler could deal with her main responsibilities as ruler of Meridian.

As Elyon got up to leave her throne room, the doors on the far side of the room swung open and Caleb stumbled through. This concerned the young queen, since Caleb was not one to be clumsy even at the worst of times from what she knew of, so whatever had Caleb so shaken to lose his normally controlled behaviour to disappear must be very bad.

"Caleb, what's the matter?" Elyon asked, while Caleb tried to catch his breath enough to finally speak.

"A…creature…attacking nearby farmlands...Raythor and I were patrolling nearby when it attacked. We tried to stop it, but…it was unstoppable. Raythor told me to warn you of the attack and to get reinforcements," Caleb managed to say, before collapsing to his knees.

Elyon rushed to Caleb's side to inspect for injures, but was glad to see it was mostly bumps and scrapes that covered the former rebel's body. It was mostly fatigue that was weakening the normally powerful young man.

"Don't worry, Caleb. I'll take Sandpit and Gargoyle and see if the three of us can take care of the monster you fought. You just rest," Elyon told her best friend's boyfriend, just when she heard a loud roar and thundering crash outside.

Caleb looked pale white upon hearing this, but Elyon hardly noticed since she was rushing to a nearby window to see what was going on. What she saw was a large creator in the middle of the town below and a large green creature in the middle of it, which Elyon instantly recognized, thanks to pictures she had seen in newspapers from her days on Earth.

"How can that be here?" Elyon gasped, then quickly turned to Caleb and asked in a tone of pure terror, "Was that the thing you and Raythor fought?"

Caleb barely mange to make himself nod a yes in response, still clearly shaken from the first encounter with the creature down below.

Had it been any other creature, Elyon would have thought this was an impostor in her midst, but then again with the Hulk, Elyon knew Caleb had every right to be scared; even Elyon was scared right now. But unlike her friend, she had to go fight the monster before it destroyed her kingdom and hope she could.

'But just in case…' Elyon thought and told Caleb what could very well be her final order to him.

"Caleb, I'm opening a fold to send you to Earth to get the Guardians. They might be our only hope if I can't beat the Hulk."

"But you need me…" Caleb started to say in protest, as the portions of his warrior spirit started to pull back together, but his queen cut him off.

"You should know full well you're no match for that thing by now. Plus, you're still shaken from your first battle. It's better you go get help and use the time away to recover," Elyon stated firmly, as a tear in space formed behind Caleb.

The former rebel leader reluctantly did as his queen ordered and went through the fold. As it closed, Elyon contacted Sandpit and Gargoyle through telepathy to prepare for their toughest battle ever. Not even those two combined could beat the unstoppable Hulk, but they might at least slow it down until the Guardians arrived.

'After all, nothing can beat two Hearts combined…right?' Elyon asked the universe in her mind, before heading out to fight as well.

000

"Hulk smash!" the giant green monster roared out, as it demolished a clothing shop. Once Bruce Banner had changed into his dangerous other self, he had either badly injured or killed the soldiers with ease and had followed the three shapeshifters to the farmlands Caleb and Raythor had been nearby.

The trio had hoped to lure the raging green giant all the way to the castle, but the Hulk had caught them too quickly and was attacking them when the patrol heard the noise and came to investigate.

Both Raythor and Caleb had tried to help the three under attack, despite the fact shapeshifters had bad reputations from the likes of Cedric and Miranda, but knew Elyon did not want a whole race condemned for only two of its members.

Had the two warriors known these three were the ones responsible for bringing the powerful beast to this world in hopes of it killing the queen, they might have let the Hulk kill the three, then get their butts kicked in the attempt to stop it.

To make matters worse, Caleb's retreat to alert Queen Elyon had made the Hulk follow in the same direction since one of it's 'enemies' had gone in that direction. Now it found more, since the few people and guards in the town were trying to counterattack in hopes of driving it away from their homes.

All this did though was make Hulk angrier, thus even more powerful, but soon it would at least face opponents that could hopefully survive the Hulk's might: Sandpit and Gargoyle.

Gargoyle was the first to engage the Hulk, as the one-eyed troll swung its club-like hand at its green opponent, sending the Hulk flying into the air.

What finally stopped the Hulk's 'flight' was it flying into a windmill, but Sandpit had already been in hot pursuit. By the time the Hulk had gotten back to its feet, Sandpit was already swarming its target and was trying crush/suffocate it.

Unfortunately, the Hulk had no intentions of being beaten so easily, and with its great strength, leapt thirty feet in the air. Once it came cashing back down to earth, the force of the landing scattered Sandpit in all directions and struggling to pull itself together in time to continue the fight.

"Sandman annoy Hulk! Hulk make Sandman go away!" Hulk roared out and slapped his hands together as Sandpit started to reform, the shockwave hitting it with such force it was blown away for miles all around.

Too bad for the rest of the nearby buildings -- the shockwave knocked a few down or badly damaged them because of the force behind it.

The good news was that the buildings had been abandoned when the Hulk started destroying the town, so Sandpit had been the only casualty at least, but it would just reform sooner or later.

The bad news was that of the two outcomes, it mostly likely was going be later, thus left only Gargoyle to battle the raging monster alone, unless Queen Elyon arrived in time to aid it in the battle.

But the one-eyed troll was not going to wait and was already charging forward to try and hit the green giant once again. This time though, the Hulk was ready.

As Gargoyle swing downward at the Hulk, it blocked the metal club with its hands and then latched onto the appendage with all its might.

"One-Eye think it stronger then Hulk? Hulk strongest there is!" Hulk roared out and then to everyone who watching, where both horrified and awed that the green monster threw the much larger Gargoyle ten feet into the air and twenty feet away from where it had once been standing.

Upon hitting the ground, Gargoyle let out a groan of pain and tried to get up, but the Hulk was already moving towards Gargoyle for its next attack.

The Hulk leapt into the air and came crashing down on the back of Gargoyle's head, slamming it face first into the ground again, while the Hulk jumped off and moved to strike again.

The Hulk waited for the one-eyed troll to raise its head again and prepared to punch it, but before it could swing its massive fist, a blast of white light hit the Hulk and sent it flying through a nearby house.

The few remaining civilians and guards who still remained in the town looked to see that their queen had arrived, much to their relief. To them, the Light of Meridian was an unstoppable force and no way would some raging green giant could win against their queen.

"Gargoyle, fall back and let me take over. Physical attacks seem useless against this guy, so let's see what a little magic can do," Elyon ordered the powerful troll, though it was clear it was not about to agree with the command.

Gargoyle wanted another shot at the creature that had, so far, been the daylights out of him.

'Why is it those under my command have to be so difficult?' Elyon mentally sighed, just as another loud roar was heard behind her.

Elyon instinctively made a barrier of light energy form to block an incoming attack, but a large green fist shattered it and kept heading straight for the young queen. The only thing that stopped the blow from connecting was the large metal club that was Gargoyle's left hand smashed down on top of the Hulk.

As Elyon breathed a sigh of relief that she had been saved from a possible deadly blow, she wondered if Gargoyle had a voice, if it would have made a remark about giving their opponent a taste of his own medicine.

These thoughts were cut short, as Elyon saw Gargoyle's 'hand' starting to move and grunting was heard underneath. Gargoyle pushed down with all its might, in hopes of keeping the Hulk pinned beneath its club, but it was no use. The Hulk was rising up slowly while holding the powerful left arm of Gargoyle at bay.

"Puny girl and One-Eye hurt Hulk…Hulk smash puny girl and One-Eye!" the Hulk roared in fury, while Elyon prayed Caleb came back with the Guardians soon. Or else there would be no one left to save when the Hulk was finished with them.

000

Back on Earth, Caleb was running for the Silver Dragon as fast as he could. It was not as easy as he normally would have it, since he was in his Meridian clothes and had his sword strapped to his back, but he did not exactly have time to change his attire or leave his weapon behind when Elyon sent him to Earth.

But since Caleb was used to sneaking around from the 'good old days,' he managed to stick to enough back allies to avoid being seen and arrived at the back door of the restaurant.

He knocked and was glad Yan Lin answered right away, who could tell form the lack of 'blending in' Caleb was doing, meant something very bad had happened.

"I take it you need to see the girls ASAP?" Yan Lin asked, getting a look from Caleb that pretty much said 'I need them even sooner than that'.

000

W.I.T.C.H. was just arriving at the Silver Dragon to get a quick snack while they make their weekend plans, but Yan Lin came out of the kitchen and said, "Girls, you might want to go to the basement. Caleb needs your help with something down there."

The girls knew what the former Guardian was hinting at and each wanted to just scream in frustration that ANOTHER crisis was happening when they had finally decided to relax their guard.

'Let's go see what Caleb needs and hope it's not as bad as we think,' Will told her friends through Taranee telepathic link to everyone and then lead them down the stairs to the Silver Dragon's basement.

Once they got down there, they found Caleb pacing back and forth impatiently while he waited for them to arrive.

"Let me guess -- either Phobos or Nerissa broke out again?" Irma asked, thinking those could be the only reason why Caleb would be here to get help, when they had Elyon's power to deal with most other issues.

"I wish it was something that simple. From what Yan Lin told me, the thing Queen Elyon told me to get you to help fight is much worse. I'm hoping that she's exaggerating about its power and that we can beat it with the combined power of the Hearts of Candracar and Meridian," Caleb replied in a tone mixed with both fear and frustration, two things the girls knew rarely applied to the former rebel leader.

Before any one of the members of W.I.T.C.H. could ask what Caleb meant, Yan Lin spoke up, "Girls, you must transform and head for Meridian at once…the Hulk has somehow appeared there, and I doubt Elyon's power will be enough to stop it."

All five members of W.I.T.C.H. went pale upon hearing that name. The Hulk rarely appeared in Heatherfield's tabloids or on its news stations, but knowledge of the unstable green creature was still rather common.

"When you say 'Hulk,' you mean the big green guy with a mild temper issue?" Irma joked nervously, while pinching herself in hopes this is just a bad dream and she would wake up any minute now.

Yan Lin sighed sadly and nodded her head in confirmation that it was true, much to the horror of the five girls who had to fight it.

"How can you expect us to win against…," Cornelia started to say, but Will placed her hand on Cornelia's shoulder and said, "We first worry about saving Elyon. We can worry about winning once she and the people of Meridian are safe, then we can think of how we can actually win."

With those words, Will took out the Heart of Candracar and transformed the girls into their Guardian forms. Once the change was complete, Will then opened the fold to take the Guardians and Caleb to Meridian so they could hopefully save Meridian from one of the most powerful foes W.I.T.C.H. could ever face.

000

The Guardians and Caleb exited the fold on the outskirts of the capitals of Meridian, or what used to be its capital. The signs of battle had covered half of what was the city that surrounded Elyon's palace and the half still standing looked as if even it had small signs of collateral damage.

"Where are they? Shouldn't Elyon still be fighting the Hulk?" Cornelia asked, feeling afraid the worst case scenario might have happened.

The entire group was thinking the same thing, when they heard a voice call out, "Guardians!"

The group turns to see it was a heavily bandaged Vathek calling to them, as he ran as fast as his battered body could carry him in his condition.

"Vathek! What happened to Elyon? Did she win or did the Hulk win?" a panicked Cornelia asked, hoping her best friend was okay.

"The queen was alright the last time I saw her, Earth Guardian…but who knows what has happening since then? She was fighting the monster with Gargoyle for a short while, but then this 'Hulk' as you call him started to inflict serious damage to Gargoyle. This made Queen Elyon telatransport both herself and the beast somewhere before Gargoyle was killed," Vathek explained, much to the Guardians' and Caleb's shock. They could never imagine Gargoyle ever being in that kind of danger, given his large size and strength.

"How is he?" Caleb asked, hoping the former enemy would be well enough to fight again soon, in case the power of the Guardians was not enough stop the Hulk.

"Pretty bad. The monster shattered Gargoyle's club hand and is also out cold. To make matters worse, we haven't seen Sandpit in a long while, after he was literally blown away by the Hulk," Vathek told the group, who looked horrified that the Hulk had beaten both Gargoyle and Sandpit, two very formidable warriors that had given even the Guardians trouble in battle.

"Oh, this is just great! Two of the strongest guys we ever fought are out of action and now Elyon's going solo against what brought them down! What else can go wrong today?!" Irma ranted, a mix between her normal joke at everything self and the girl scared out of her mind at having to face the Hulk, assuming they could find it before it crushed Elyon under its heel.

"Real sensitive, Irma! Elyon is in danger and you're acting like a fool!" Cornelia screamed at the Water Guardian, but before anyone could step in to calm both girls down, the sound of a horn filled the air and made everyone go pale white.

It was the Horn of Warning, and it only sounded if and when the cells in the Infinite City had been breached. This could only mean Phobos had somehow gotten loose, which was the last thing Meridian needed right now.

"I just had to ask," Irma said in a depressed tone of voice, referring to when she asked the 'what else could have gone wrong' remark from a few moments ago.

000

In the Infinite City, Elyon and the Hulk continued their battle. The young queen had telatransported both of them down into the large underground city so to keep her people out of harm's way, but a small mistake was made when she did this.

She brought them a little too close to the location of the prison where Phobos and his minions were kept.

Elyon tried to lure the Hulk away from the prison entrance, but the small number of guards present saw the fight between their queen and the raging green creature and chose to aid their ruler, which only drew the Hulk's attention to them.

Before Elyon could even try another attempt at telatransporting to keep the Hulk away from her subjects, it smashed through them and into the prison complex.

"Oh, no!" Elyon cried out in horror, knowing if the Hulk accidentally let Phobos or his goons out of their cells, then things would REALLY get ugly. Unless the Hulk beat the snot out of them first, but Elyon knew she could not take that risk.

As Elyon entered the prison area, she saw the Hulk throwing the guards around the room, while Lurdens and other followers of Phobos cheered the sight on. Elyon acted quickly and opened fire on the Hulk with beams of white light, hitting the Hulk from behind.

The beams knocked the Hulk over, but seemed to cause little damage to him now. The Hulk turned its head gave the petite girl a furious look at being hit again by Elyon's magic, which seemed to be becoming less and less effective with each blast.

"Hulk tired of puny girl shooting Hulk! Hulk tear puny girl in half!" Hulk roared out and jumped into the air with its fist raised to strike as it came cashing back down towards Elyon's location.

The only thing that saved Elyon from getting crushed by the incoming blow was the fact she telatransported out of the way just in time, appearing right in front of her brother's cell.

"Having trouble, dear sister?" Phobos asked in a mocking tone, thinking this scene was more entertaining than anything he had ever seen in his life.

"Shut up or you'll be fighting this thing as well," Elyon shot back, not in the mood to deal with her brother's cocky attitude right now.

The argument between the two siblings was cut short by the sound of the Hulk's thunderous roar, making Elyon turn just in time to see the Hulk charging towards her. It took yet another telatransport to get out of the way of an incoming punch, but Phobos was not so lucky.

The energy bars of his cell kept him suffering a direct hit from the Hulk's blow, but it did cause bolts of energy from the bars to strike the prince, burning him a bit and making the former tyrant's blood boil.

"Watch where you swing your fists, you stupid brute! It's the other one you want to hit, not me!" Phobos yelled at the Hulk, which drew the raging green monster's attention to him now instead of Elyon, and it did not look happy.

"Girly Man call Hulk stupid? Hulk smash Girly Man!" Hulk roared out and began to try and smash through the energy bars of Phobos' cell.

This gave Elyon time to use her powers to get her guards just outside the prison area and was about to lower what were believed to be unbreakable gates to lock the Hulk in with the other prisoners, when the Hulk finally breached Phobos' cell.

"S-stay back you monster! I command it!" Elyon heard Phobos scream out in horror, making the queen feel a small bit of pity for her older brother, so she decided to give him a fighting chance. She telatransported him to the middle of the prison area, out of the Hulk's reach for the moment and then deactivated all the other cells' bars to allow Phobos followers to fight as well.

Just as the Lurdens, Cedric, Miranda, Frost, and the Tracker were leaping out of their cages, Elyon lowered the enchanted gates to keep them all still locked up, but with a new 'friend' to get familiar with.

As the gate dropped down and began to crackle with greenish-blue energy, Elyon flopped down on the ground and wondered, 'Who should I be rooting for, the Hulk or my brother? From what I can tell, no matter who wins, its bad news!'

000

Meanwhile, the Guardians and Caleb were racing through the Infinite City, hoping to get to the prison before Phobos and his followers got too far. As they got close though, they found a very worn out Elyon and ten wounded guards outside the now secured prison entrance.

"Oh, now you guys show up!" Elyon stated in an annoyed tone, since she had to face the not-so-jolly green giant for the last couple of hours, with only minimal help.

"Sorry, Elyon. By the time we found out about the battle, you had already disappeared. We only came down here because we heard the horn of warning go off," Cornelia told her best friend, as she wrapped her arms around the smaller girl.

The rest of the group was breathing a sigh relief, until they realized the sounds of battle were coming from the prison. Caleb slowly walked over to look through heavily enchanted gate to see the Hulk fighting the minions of Phobos.

To his horror, he saw Miranda in her spider form lying broken on the ground; he could tell she was still alive from whimpering of pain and how her laboured breathing was. Other formers foes like the Tracker and Frost were also down, but were too far away for Caleb to tell if they were dead or not.

There was also down-for-the-count Lurdens all over the prison floor, some even laying in their cells after probably getting thrown back into them by the raging green monster in the middle of the room…and was now holding Cedric in his snake form by the throat.

"Animal people attack Hulk! Hulk make animal people leave Hulk alone!" the Hulk roared, as he threw Cedric across the room and into the gate that kept them all locked inside the prison.

"Help…me…I'll promise to…repent…for all I have done. Just get me away…from this…monster! I'll swear on…any Heart you wish. Just save me!" Cedric pleaded to Caleb, clearly weak and out of breath from the choke hold he just received.

Caleb was stunned at this, since he never once thought Cedric would ever plead for anything, but before his mind could fully comprehend this, the Hulk's roar was heard once again.

Both Caleb and Cedric looked to see the Hulk moving quickly marching towards where Cedric was, making the former right hand of Phobos cry out in pure terror, "Let me out! For the love of Candracar! Let me out!"

Even if Caleb had wanted do as the shapeshifter was pleading for, it was too late. The Hulk grabbed Cedric by his tail and whipped him around in a circle, before releasing the tail and sending Cedric flying into one the cells near the top of the prison.

Caleb winced as he heard the loud crash, knowing Cedric probably suffered a lot of broken bones from a landing that hard. If the snake was still alive, he might have to consider petitioning Elyon for a pardon for Cedric; after facing this Hulk creature, the former villain might very well be too traumatized to be a threat ever again, and if he did go back to his old ways, the oath on a Heart would probably take care of that. That possible event could wait until after a certain green crisis was dealt with, which was now pounding on the gates in front of Caleb.

"Let Hulk out!" the Hulk roared as his massive green firsts pounded on the fortified steel barrier that kept him from leaving his new 'home,' while the Guardians slowly came closer.

"Um…those are supposed to be unbreakable from the inside, right?" Taranee asked nervously, keeping a fireball ready to use should the Hulk start to breaking through.

The wounded guards that were nearby let out a few chuckles, while Caleb answered Taranee's question with a confident smirk on his face, "There is no way even this overgrown green ox can breach this gate! From what we were told by Nerissa when she was posing as the Mage, every magic user of merit throughout Meridian's history has infused a portion of their power into this thing. Even Elyon has added her share; there is no way anything will get out of that prison with the gate down."

Taranee did not look completely convinced, but Irma on the other hand looked like was she calming down and going back to her old self, which was proven by her next action.

"So the big green raging monkey is beaten by one person? Ha! If I knew Elyon was able to beat this guy without us, I'd not have panicked as much as I did," Irma said as she approached the gate, getting a roar of fury form the Hulk after being called a monkey.

"Man, all that screaming must be making your throat dry. Here, have a drink!" Irma said cockily, and then fired a stream of water through the bars and into the Hulk's face.

The Hulk stumbled back from getting blinded by water hitting him in the face while Irma laughed and the other members of the Guardians went pale white. They did not like the idea of Irma making the Hulk angrier then he already was.

"Irma, stop mocking him. Even if he can't get out, we eventually need to get him back to Earth, and you provoking him is not going to make him any easier," Will warned her friend, while everyone now turned to stare at the redhead. They thought she was crazy to want to let that thing out so they could take it back to Earth.

"Don't give me those looks. Hulk is not Meridian's problem, and the people of Meridian already have Phobos to keep under guard anyway. It's better we get him back to Earth once he calms down and maybe we can reason with him to leave willingly and peacefully," Will told everyone, who still looked unsure if this plan was good idea or not. Of course, no one present knew what happened when the Hulk calmed or they would have probably thought Will was not so crazy after all.

Unfortunately, they were not going to have the chance to find this out, since the Hulk had recovered from the water shot Irma gave him a few moments ago and was madder than ever.

"Hulk crush Water Girl!" Hulk roared out and slammed his massive fist into the gate once again, this time though, causing a noticeable dent in the bars.

"Irma…this is your fault!" Cornelia said as they started to step back from the gate, while the Hulk's blows continued to dent the formally unbreakable obstacle.

"Not now, Cornelia!" Will warned the Earth Guardian and then looked to Elyon and said, "You and your guards head back to the palace, we'll take over from here."

Elyon was about to protest leaving her friends to fight the Hulk alone, but Will saw it coming and cut the young queen off.

"You're already worn out from fighting with him before. If you tried to help us now, it would only put you at risk. Right now you're needed back at the castle to help your people and to try and come up with a plan for us to stop this guy. We'll hold him off until then," Will told Elyon, who finally gave in and grabbed Caleb and dragged him over to where the guards were.

"Elyon! I can…" Caleb started to say, but Elyon now had her turn to cut someone off.

"I got powers and I'm not allowed to fight, so if you think I'm going to be alone in my suffering, you got another thing coming!" Elyon stated, before telatransporting everyone who was not a Guardian back to the castle to do as Will said and come up with a plan to win against the Hulk.

Meanwhile, the Guardians got ready so square off against the Hulk, though they had zero ideas on how they would hold the massive green monster at bay long enough for Elyon to rest and plan their winning strategy.

"Will…are you sure you don't already have a plan? I trust Elyon, but…" Taranee started to say, but Will spoke up to cut Taranee off.

"Unfortunately, my only plan is a last ditch one, which is open a fold and hope the Hulk follows us through it. But that would be leading him to Heatherfield, since I never have folded to any place far enough away from populated areas. We need a way to stop this guy, and I doubt any of our usual tricks can do that. Right now, I'm hoping we can at least buy Elyon enough to recover and maybe set up an attack plan that can help us win," Will explained, as the Hulk finally started push its way through the remains of the badly mangled gate.

"Here we go, girls. Time to see what a little Guardian magic can do to a ten-foot green giant," Will told her friends and started to gather lighting in her hands, which the other four did same with their own elements.

"Fairy girls think they can match Hulk? Hulk strongest there is!" the Hulk roared out and then began his attack on his five new opponents, which would go down as one of the greatest battles in Meridian's history.

000

Meanwhile, the group of nobles who had planned this whole incident with the Hulk watched the battle in a large glowing ball of light and were having mixed feeling so far about the plan's success.

"Well, it seems you were correct that this creature has the potential to defeat the queen. The only problem is that is seems unable to actually kill her! It was supposed to have killed her before the Guardians arrived; now all it will take is for the Guardians to hold it off long enough for the queen to regain her strength and it will face the power of two Hearts instead of one!" one of the members yelled at their oldest one.

"That was strictly the best-case scenario, and in case you did not notice, the creature is powerful enough to destroy something even the combined power of the queen and the Guardians would probably not even scratch. It is unlikely the Guardians will live long enough before the queen can rejoin them anyway," the older man replied calmly, while getting some of the likeminded nobles nodding their head in agreement.

"I think our only concern now is how to get people to leave the Hulk alone long enough for it revert back its human form, once it has dealt with the queen and the Guardians. There is no doubt of the outcome in my eyes, but once that is achieved, I would prefer there to be a Meridian left for us to rule," a third member of the group said as he watched the battle continue.

The oldest member just smiled and said, "If my research is correct, the Hulk tends to find solitude once it wins a battle, since overall it tends to be wished to be left alone. As long as the

Guardians and the queen are defeated in an isolated area, that result should be achieved on its own. We just need to keep an eye on the Hulk until it seeks out its hiding place and then use the power of Meridian to kill its human form while it sleeps."

Most of the group seemed to think this plan was sound, though the younger members seemed less then convinced but knew it was too late to turn back now.

000

Back in the remains of the prison complex, a single person hidden in the shadows seemed to still be mostly unharmed, which was Phobos. During the battle, he leached life force from several Lurdens and used it to meld into the Shadow to avoid the Hulk's wrath. He also used this time to get very vague images from the Hulk's mind, seeing what originally provoked the creature and what brought it to Meridian.

'I know who employed those shapeshifters. It seems that old fool has been planning something while I have been left to rot in this cursed place. While the Guardians deal with that…thing, I'll go pay that old man a visit and deal with him and whoever else who may have been involved with his plan!' Phobos schemed in his mind and slowly gathered the power to telatransport out of the jail and to the older lord's castle to carry out the plan of gaining his revenge.

000

Back at the battle between W.I.T.C.H. and the Hulk, the Guardians were keeping to the air and firing away with elemental attacks. They knew they needed to keep out of reach and on the move if they were to survive the battle, since a single hit from the Hulk was to be a devastating blow to anyone of them.

The Hulk, though, was making even this attack plan difficult, since he could jump very high at extreme speeds, given each of the girls a few close calls as they flew through the Infinite City. It also did not help matter when the Hulk grabbed one of the many support pillars and tried to use it like an oversized baseball bat and tried to use them as the baseballs!

"Hulk smash fairy girls!" the Hulk roared out for thousandth time, as his pillar club around in an attempt smack the Guardians out of the air, but they kept darting between the other pillars to block the swing and the counter attack with element blasts.

The only problem with this tactic was that it was starting the compromise some of the local area's ability to hold up the ceiling, so this meant the Guardians might need to go above ground and risk a battle in the open.

As leader though, Will was already weighing all the pros and cons if leaving the Infinite City and had picked the choice she thought was best, and contacted Taranee through telepathy to tell her the plan.

'Taranee, link everyone so we can keep the roof from caving in on us,' Will said into link, hoping to make this plan briefing a short one.

'Done. Go right ahead, Will, and fill us in,' Taranee replied, as she unleashed a barrage of fireballs on the Hulk, but they seem to do nothing more than annoy the powerful monster.

'Okay, everyone. The next time we get close to an exit, we're going to use it to go back to surface. Hopefully the open space up there will work more to our advantage than to the Hulk's, but we definitely can't stay down here and risk getting buried under a thousand tons of rock,' Will told her friends, who agreed with the plan began to lure the Hulk towards the closest known exit.

The five girls darted and weaved through the Infinite City, with the Hulk right on their tails. As they reach the staircase that led to the surface, Irma said into the mind link, 'Any chance that he won't be able to follow because of the exit being too narrow to get through?'

'I hope so, but ever since the Hulk busted through the prison's gate, I don't know if it a long narrow passage will be enough to stop him,' Will replied, though she was praying for a miracle that such a thing would stop the Hulk's pursuit.

'Well, we know whose fault the gate breaking was. Isn't that right, Irma?' Cornelia commented into the link, still clearly blaming the Water Guardian for provoking the Hulk enough to break out of the prison complex.

Before Irma could shoot back a comment or Will could lecture the Earth Guardian, Hay Lin mentally screamed out, 'Cornelia, if you blame Irma for that one more time, I swear I'll use my powers to send you flying into the Hulk!'

The whole group was a bit shocked at the normally gentle Hay Lin making such a threat, but probably hearing Cornelia blaming her best friend for the Hulk's escape and made her reach a breaking point. Will and Taranee were getting tired of it too, but it seemed Hay Lin lost her temper first.

The group all thought it best to just stay silent and let the petite Asian have her way. No one knew how to handle her when angry, so it was safer that way.

'I think she's scarier than the Hulk when mad!' Cornelia thought as they flew towards the stone stairway that would lead them back above ground, while avoiding any rubble thrown at them by the Hulk, which was made from the pillars it took the liberty of smashing so it had ammo to throw.

Once the girls entered the stairway, they looked back to see their massive green adversary slam into the tiny entrance to the stairway. The Hulk reached out vainly to grab one of his opponents, but even his arms were too short to achieve this task.

The Hulk let loose yet another raging roar as the five girls flew up the stairs to surface, where they could rest and hopefully come up with a way to slow the Hulk down long enough for Elyon to think of a more permanent solution.

Once the five Guardians reached the surface, they found themselves in the middle of a forest. Against any other foe, such a place would be more to the Guardians' advantage, since all the trees and thick brush could slow enemies down and allow the W.I.T.C.H. to dart between the trees for cover. Against the Hulk though, it might not be so effective if it does the same with the trees, as he did in the Infinite City's support pillars.

"Well, that hopefully bought us some time, so let's get a game plan together before…" Will to started, but then the group of magic users heard an all too familiar roar, following by something bursting out of the ground in a cloud of dirt and rubble.

From the dust cloud, the Hulk emerged, panting heavily form breaching some much stone and dirt, but still looking ready for a fight nonetheless.

"That is so unfair," Will grumbled, before ordering her teammates to get back in the air and ready for round two with the Hulk.

000

Back with the group who had planned this whole event, the nobles were starting to feel nervous. They did not know how much ground had between the underground city and the surface, but they all had admit, it must have took unheard of levels of strength to break through it so quickly.

"Are you sure the only way to stop that thing is in its human form?" one of the nobles asked their oldest member in hopes that the first plan was just the main approach and that was a few back up plans as well.

Before the old man could answer, the doors to the room burst open and revealed a very angry Phobos, with the two guards that were on duty looking like shrivelled-up mummies from being drained of their life force by the former ruler of Meridian.

"So, it seems have many to thank for my earlier 'guest.' Let me thank you all with an equally memorable experience!" Phobos growled out, while energy crackled in his hands. He made sure to drain as many guards as possible on his way into the large manor the nobles used for their meeting, just in case he needed the extra energy and it seemed a wise precaution. He had many people to 'thank' and would need all the energy he drained to do it.

000

Back at the titanic battle between W.I.T.C.H. and the Hulk, much of the forest was getting decimated. If it was not the Hulk knocking trees down, it was Will or Taranee burning it with their attacks or Cornelia using trees as 'soldiers' to fight the Hulk, along with any other vegetation the blonde Guardian could use on the unstoppable monster.

Irma and Hay Lin were helping in a different way, keeping any forest fires from getting started from lighting strikes or explosive fire attacks, though the pair often did combine powers to freeze the ground to make the Hulk slip for a short while.

Unfortunately, all this seemed to do was anger the Hulk further, rather than wear him down and it was draining the Guardians physically and mentally. Even with a supposedly unlimited supply of mystic energy from their Aurameres in Candracar, their bodies seemed to be able to handle only so much use of their magic at a time, something they did not know of since they have never truly fought a single battle for this long before.

The Hulk was truly pushing them to their limits, something none of their other foes had before, though that was probably because none of their past foes were as relentless and as powerful as the Hulk. Plus the fact that if things got ugly in their past battles, the Guardians had the option to retreat, but with the Hulk, W.I.T.C.H. did not have that option, since the Hulk would just go back to its rampage unchecked.

"Hulk tired of fairy girls bothering Hulk! Hulk crush fairy girls!" Hulk roared out, and then leapt into the air, finally getting near one of his opponents at long last. The unlucky girl was Hay Lin, the normally most agile and fast flyer of the group, since she was just too worn out to keep up with the Hulk's surprisingly fast leaps anymore.

As the Hulk got within range, he raised his fist at the Air Guardian like she was a volleyball and spiked her towards the ground, colliding with a hard thud and did not move from her landing spot.

"Hay Lin!" Irma cried out, and dove down toward her oldest friend, but the Hulk was waiting for her, since he landed near the spot the young Air Guardian had fallen.

Just as Irma got close to her friend, she was backhanded by the Hulk's massive hand and sent flying into a tree. The impact was so hard, the trunk splintered and cracked where Irma hit.

The attack on two of their friends caused the remaining three to go into a fury, with Will being the first to try and gain vengeance on their attacker.

Shrieking in a mad rage, Will unleashed a devastating lightning attack, the most powerful she ever created, upon the Hulk.

The Hulk let out a painful howl as the lightning coursed through him, but his suffering was far from over if Taranee and Cornelia had anything to say about it.

Taranee unleashed a barrage of fireballs, adding further damage to Hulk, while Cornelia prepared her own attack.

The Earth Guardian touched down on the ground and started using her powers to unearth a massive boulder. Once free of the dirt, Cornelia made float high into the air, right above the Hulk, and then sent flying back down to earth with all her might.

Will and Taranee halted their attacks just before the boulder crashed down on its target, but the Earth Guardian did not stop wit this single blow. She made the rising up again and again, hammering down on the Hulk with tremendous force.

By the time Cornelia stopped her attack, the boulder was cracked under the force of the blows, but with the lack of roaring or comments to smash them from the 'small' hole the Hulk had been pounded into, the trio thought that they had either killed him or at least beat him into submission, so they thought now was the best time to check on Irma and Hay Lin.

The trio were glad to hear groans of pain as they got close, at least now knowing the two were still very much alive.

"Let's get you two fixed up and then take what's left of the Hulk back to Earth. Then we can go tell Elyon the good news and have a normal weekend," Will said as took out the Heart to heal the two fallen Guardians.

"I thought this was a normal weekend for us?' Irma managed to grumble out as she and Hay Lin got bathed in the Heart of Candracar's light.

'Now we know for sure Irma's okay; she's already making jokes,' Will mentally commented as she finished up the healing process and watched Cornelia and Taranee help Irma and Hay Lin up.

But before the group could move onto phase two of Will's finish up with the Hulk plan, they heard a noise behind them. All five girls slowly turned around to see Hulk pushing the crumbling remains of the boulder off him and crawl out of the hole with wild look in its eyes.

"Fairy girls hurt Hulk…now Hulk hurt fairy girls!" the Hulk roared in anger, since the massive assault from Will, Taranee, and Cornelia had finally dealt some degree of damage to the massive green beast.

"Um…Will? Whatever you guys did before, please do it again before he kills us," Hay Lin squeaked out, hiding behind the very person she was talking to.

Right now though, Will was the one wanting to do the hiding. The Hulk had just got back up from the most powerful assault they ever launched, and it only slowed him down with some light damage.

'What do we do now? Irma and Hay Lin have minimal strength back thanks to the Heart's healing powers, and Taranee, Cornelia, and I are tapped out for the last attack. There is no way we can hit him that hard again,' Will thought, as she and the other girls back away from the Hulk, who was slowly advancing on towards them.

"Guys…fly!" Will finally ordered, knowing a fight now was pointless with zero energy left for attacks. They only chance was now to get into the air and get as much distance as they could. Will would then open a fold to Heatherfield and then another one back to Elyon's castle. From there, they could rest and see what Elyon had come up with.

Too bad the Hulk was not so willingly to allow this tactic to work, and slapped his hands together to create a shockwave, just like the one he used on Sandpit.

The shockwave sent the five girls slamming into several tree trunks and preventing their escape.

None of them moved after their collisions with the trees and then with the ground, too weak and dazed to do anything but lay on the ground and wait for the finishing blow the Hulk was getting ready to deliver, as he marched towards their prone forms.

"Lightning fairy hurt Hulk first, so Hulk smash lighting fairy first!" the Hulk growled as he towered over Will and raised his fists to bring down on the redhead's battered body, when a strange war cry rang out.

The Hulk did not even get the chance to turn to see what made the yell, since its source jumped onto the Hulk's shoulder and bit down on it.

As the Hulk let out a roar of pain, he grabbed what bit him to see it was a tiny green creature…that smelled really bad.

"Hulk can't breathe! Stinky thing smell to bad! Stinky thing go away!" Hulk cried out in horror (something no one would have expected) and threw the little green creature away from him into the forest, but the small green creature grabbed onto a branch before it went too far.

"Big mean-man can't flatter Blunk; Big mean-man hurt Blunk's friends! Also, you have no right to talk like Passling!" Blunk stated, in a rare act of courage since he actually attacked something much larger than him.

"Stinky thing dare make fun of Hulk? Hulk…aaaahhh!" Hulk started to say, when two beams of white energy, hit the Hulk and sent him flying through several trees.

The Guardians finally looked up to see Elyon, Sandpit, Gargoyle and a large number of castle guards coming closer.

"If I have to hear that thing say 'smash' one more time, I'm going to scream!" Elyon stated as she and her troops got close to the Guardians and helped them back to their feet.

"Nice timing, Elyon. We're way too worn out to hold him off any longer," a relieved Will told the young Queen a small bit of her vast power to give the five a jump start.

"Don't worry; the fight is pretty much won with the plan I got. I just need you guys a little bit longer, especially you, Hay Lin," Elyon explained and the told them her plan, one the five would have not expected to defeat something as unstoppable as the Hulk.

000

"This not Hulk's day," the Hulk groaned as he got back to his feet after getting hit by Elyon fully charged double energy blast. He was preparing to charge back into battle, when he saw the Guardians and Blunk, who was being carried by Irma and Taranee, flying towards him.

Before the Hulk could do anything, Hay Lin flew behind Blunk and created a breeze behind him, sending the powerful stench towards the Hulk.

The powerful stink made even the Hulk feel nauseous and had the Hulk running from them for a change.

"I don't believe it…this plan is actually working!" Irma exclaimed in shock, which the others were sharing. They knew Blunk smelled, but did not think even that stick could drive the Hulk back.

"Well, let's just keep it up and hope that info Elyon found out about the Hulk is right," Will told the group, and continued to drive the Hulk through the forest towards the mountains.

They eventually drove the Hulk into a cave deep in the mounts where is could not escaped and guarded the entrance until Elyon and her forces arrived.

"So you guys got him in there?" Elyon asked, getting tired nods from her five best friends, who were running low on energy again, despite the small loan power from Elyon.

"Then it shouldn't be long then…I hope," Elyon said and then had her forces wait and see what happened next.

000

Inside the cave fifteen, Bruce woke up inside the cave and recognized the signs of him going Hulk. 'Hope the Hulk didn't cause too much destruction this time,' Bruce hoped, and also prayed he escaped those people after him.

As Bruce exited the cave, he saw the small army outside and let out a groan since he was hoping this did not cause enough stress to change back into the Hulk again.

"Don't worry, sire. We're just here in case the information we found out about you was wrong…or at least I hope you are who I think you are," a young blonde girl wearing green robes and a crown said calmly, making Bruce remember what the man he caused his recent change into the Hulk had prior to making him angry.

"Are…you the one who sent those men after before? One of them said their queen ordered…" Bruce started to ask, but the young girl raised her hand to signal him to stop and allow her to explain what happened.

000

After another hour of explaining what happened, Elyon had found out from the three shapeshifters of the real reason Bruce Banner was kidnapped and made to change his other self to help them rid themselves of their queen.

"It's good to hear you'll soon have those men in custody arrest and that the loss of life wasn't as bad as past times I've become the Hulk. If it's alright, I would like to head back to Earth so this doesn't happen again," Bruce asked, much to everyone's surprise.

"Why go back to Earth? From what we've heard, you a wanted man there. Here on Meridian, you find peace and perhaps with time. I can find a way to rid you of the Hulk, or at least some means to control him," Elyon asked, hoping give Bruce a chance at a better life.

Bruce looked at the young queen with a sad smile and replied, "As tempting as your offer is, the Hulk is too dangerous. Even with those men imprisoned, there could be others, and I won't risk that. Plus, the Hulk is my responsibility; I'll find a cure on Earth eventually."

Elyon could see there was no convincing the man out of his decision, so she used her magic to restore his clothing and opened a fold to send him back to Earth. Elyon made sure the fold was be in a secluded place on the outskirts of Heatherfield, knowing the professor would want to be as far away from people as possible, so to avoid any 'accidents' that would cause another change into the Hulk.

Once Bruce Banner was safely through the fold, Will asked Elyon, "Now that we have that problem solved, do you need help with those guys who brought Professor Banner here?"

"I think we can handle the rest on our own. You guys go home and enjoy your weekend; I think you guys need it after all that's happened today," Elyon told her friends, who were more than happy to agree they needed go home a do a little relaxing this weekend like they had been hoping to do before the fiasco happened.

000

What W.I.T.C.H. did not know was when the guards, lead by Caleb, Raythor, and Vathek came to arrest the nobles plotting against their queen, the found a very tired but pleased Phobos had the nobles tied up in black thorny vines.

Phobos had clearly been torturing them, but not putting their lives at risk. He had probably been hoping to make them suffer longer then he had been able to, but since he was so drained it made it easy for the guards to recapture Phobos and take the traitors into custody.

They also did not know that since many of Phobos' former minions had been so traumatized by their encounter the Hulk, they had been easily rehabilitated. It also helped that swearing on the power of Meridian to never cause harm to others ever again.

This, combined with the fact many of those who would try to overthrow Elyon were captured due to their plan to do so, actually leading her right to them, it made many think in the end the Hulk was a hero, albeit a reluctant one.

Even though the Hulk was never seen again by any of W.I.T.C.H. or by the people of Meridian again, he certainly left an imprint that would be remembered for years to come.

000

AN: Hope everyone enjoyed the fic; please let me know what you thought.


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